nurse-led education on patients with chronic heart failure and their informal caregivers

Conditions: Heart Failure

Summary: the current study intends to examine the influence of nurse-led education on patients with chronic heart failure and their caregivers, with the goal of optimizing care for both and improving patients\&#39; clinical outcomes.

introduction: heart failure is a clinical syndrome with pandemic characteristics, and its prevalence increases with age. the development of self-care behavior by patients seems to be a crucial component for effective management and reduction of the disease\&#39;s impact. nurse- guided patient education has been associated with improved outcomes and the development of self-care behavior. in recent years, several studies have also focused on the contribution of informal caregivers to improving the outcomes of the disease. nurse-led education for both patients and their caregivers has been shown to enhance their caregiving skills, leading to better disease management and beneficial outcomes. purpose: to investigate the impact of nurse-led education on patients with chronic heart failure and their caregivers, aiming to optimize care for both and improve the clinical outcomes of patients. methodology: a randomized controlled trial will be conducted with the manipulation of independent variables and the creation of a control group. patients will be randomly assigned to three groups: a) the control group (group a), receiving standard care based on the policies and protocols of primary health care; b) the first intervention group (group b), receiving nurse-led education through oral sessions, educational materials, and regular phone calls; and c) the second intervention group (group c), receiving the described nurse-led education while caregivers also undergo training through oral sessions, phone calls, and appropriately designed educational materials. greek versions of the minnesota living with heart failure questionnaire, hippocratic hypertension self-care scale, and self-efficacy for appropriate medication use scale will be used to assess quality of life, self-care behavior, and medication adherence. for caregivers, their quality of life, caregiving burden, and sense of guilt will be evaluated using greek versions of the euroqol ed-5, heart failure caregiver questionnaire, and caregiver guilt questionnaire, respectively. measurements will be taken before patient and caregiver education (initial meeting), 1 month, and 6 months after the initial meeting. statistical analysis will be performed using spss (version 26) and descriptive and inferential statistical analysis methods. expected results: the proposed study is expected to highlight the contribution of nurse-led education in optimizing care for both patients and their caregivers. additionally, this education is anticipated to lead to better clinical outcomes for patients with chronic heart failure.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * age ≥ 18 years * patients recently hospitalized due to the disease * patients and caregivers who are literate in greek * patients and caregivers who provide written informed consent for their participation in the study * patients diagnosed with heart failure for at least 6 months * caregivers who have been involved in the care of the patients for at least 6 months * patients taking medication according to the guidelines of the european society of cardiology exclusion criteria: * history of psychiatric disease, recent history of alcohol or/and drug abuse, dementia, and alzheimer\&#39;s disease (for patients and caregivers) * absence of an informal caregiver according to their statement

Keywords: heart failure informal caregivers patient outcomes nurse-led education